Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary – New Forest

We went for a lovely weekend away to the New Forest and ate way too much, we stayed in the lovely Forest Lodge Hotel and had an amazing 3 course dinner, if that wasn’t enough we had a huge lunch in the cutest thatched roof pub.

We decided to walk off all the mass of food by visiting the Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary (if you couldn’t already tell Deer are my absolute favorite animal.) We saw the deer from the viewing tower and walked along the forest walk and saw wild horses and two beautiful stag’s just walking along and I am very sorry for the awful photos (taken by the hubby I just appreciated to moment.)

Also a favorite moment when we heard rustling and went off the beaten track for deer spotting and Kyle (the husband) got stuck in the mud lost his welly and put his sock in the mud, I very helpfully laughed an took the picture below.

The new forest is just such a wonderful place and I would advise anyone to visit and don’t forget to hire a bike!

I went on the most amazing trip to Cambodia and visited lots of amazing locations. I thought I would share the silk worm factory I visited where everything was made by hand with amazing skill.

First they showed us the worms (photo above) and brought the mulberry leaves to fed them. Did you know silkworms are really not worms at all, silk worms are the larvae of ‘bombyx mori’ moths and silkworms are actually domesticated insects. I found out that silk worms are native to china and no longer exist in the wild. The silkworm is now incapable of flight and mates quickly after emerging from its crysalis, and dies a day or so after laying eggs.

The worms are later sealed within a yellow cocoon and embark on the process of metamorphosing into a moth. Which the moths make 1000’s of little cocoons.

The process, from silkworm egg to complete cocoon, takes about twenty-five days.

The cocoon is now treated with boiling water. The silk is then unbound from the cocoon by softening the sericin and then delicately and carefully unwinding, or ‘reeling’ the filaments to create a single strand.

The sericin protects the silk fiber during the process, this is often left in until the yarn or even woven fabric stage. Interesting fact that Raw silk is silk that still contains sericin. Once this is washed out (in soap and boiling water), the fabric is left soft, lustrous, and up to 30% lighter. The amount of usable silk in each cocoon is small, and about 2500 silkworms are required to produce a pound of raw silk. It real makes you appreciate the time it takes to make one silk scarf.

Silk weavers hand-reel the threads onto a wooden spindle to produce a uniform strand of raw silk. The process is very labor intensive, as it takes nearly 30 hours to produce a 0.5 kg (around 1 pound) of Thai silk. Did you know that a single cocoon can produce up to 1.5 km (almost 1 mile) of silk thread!

The silk is dyed using natural materials such as paprika, Lavender and lots more organic products.

The final step is weaving. Silk weaving creates a fabric by interlacing the yarns. Weaving is carried out on a hand loom.

Have you read this article on the BBC Website, well if you haven’t someone has taken a photo and video of a weasel riding on the back of a woodpecker (see the photo below.)

I know in this story the weasel is trying to take on the woodpecker, but I am sure there have been cases where the woodland animals take a trip on another animals as friends. Maybe there’s even a woodpecker bus which has scheduled pick up times, maybe sunset and sunrise. I think this is a lovely thought an inspiring maybe l will draw a new illustration of a bird taxi and fellow passenger!

I just had to share this post with you by Earth Porn, about the most beautiful bridges. There is something so magical about bridges like a gateway into another world and I just had to share this with you.

1 and 4 our my favourite and I just image them taking me into the Hobbit world, I just love them!

“Some bridges are big and beautiful, while other bridges play it simple and humble. These 20 bridges are incredibly mystical, for more reasons than one. Enjoy the view, and let your imagination run wild!

Huangshan, Anhui, China

Mullerthal, Luxembourg

Ronda, Malaga Spain

This 16th century convent is now transformed into an educational art museum. The amazing bridge that spans between the rio Guadalven was built in the 18th century and offers stunning views of the Serrania de Ronda mountains. Here, bullfighting got its start and continues to stampede the culture today.

Gorge De L’areuse in Switzerland

This beautiful Swiss Grand Canyon is open to all with the physical endurance and know-how to make it through the trying elements. Those that venture through these parts are rewarded with beautiful scenes straight out of a fairytale.

Hermitage Bridge, Scotland

Ponte Gobbo, Italy

Also known as the Hunchback Bridge and the Devil’s Bridge, the Ponte Gobbo serves as an important landmark of northern Italy in the small town of Bobbio. Here, much of the historical charm remains intact, including this bridge made of ancient stone straight from the Roman era. It was here in Bobbio that historians hypothesize Leonardo da Vinci created the Mona Lisa masterpiece.

Devil’s Bridge In Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria

Arching over the Arda River, the Devil’s Bridge belongs to an ancient road that connects the lowlands to the north Aegean Sea. It is believed that this bridge was built around 1515 by the Ottoman. It is one of the best of its time and in the entire area. In 1984 this bridge was declared a monument of culture.

Since my last post showing how to create a Jewellery table from an old table, I have been shopping shopping and more shopping. Which I’m loving but I’m not sure my bank account feels the same way :(. Anyway I didn’t want to go to over board buying jewellery bits and bobs so I wrote two lists. One including all the items I actually need and the other of things I REALLY want but can live without. As my sales aren’t going through the roof I needed to be aware of how much I’m actually spend without getting too carried away. I have steered clear of all kits and just brought things I need and know I will use. I looked on a range of online shops and even went to a few car boot sales as you never know what your find! My favourite shopping destination is Cookson’s, if you are like me and are setting up a little jewellery studio I have listed my purchases below:

Soldering Tools

– Hand torch (Proxxon Microflame Burner)

– Solder probe

– Pickling salts

– Liquid flux

– Flux brush

– Silver easy solder

– Silver hard solder

– Slow cooker –(Amazon/ Tesco’s)

– Soldering Block

– Tweezers (plastic & metal)

– Shears

Work Bench Tools

– Saw / blades

– Bench Peg And Anvil

– Looping pliers

– Rawhide Mallet Size 3

– Jobbing hammer

– Emery sticks

– Metal mandrel (ring & bangle)

– Ring sizer

– Needle files

– Scales

– Bangle measurer

Most things were brought online but I did pick up a few bits from car boots and a lot looking around my dad’s garage. I have another free table lined up which I will use it as a soldering table and I am sure I will blog about it once its finished :)